Sometimes when I visit the Sierra I cover surprising distances to get from location to location. But I devoted the entirety of my mid-September visit to the Yosemite high country to locations between Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass. I made this photograph from as far east as I went, right at the pass, where small tarns dot a landscape of meadows and small trees.
This can be a green and even lush place early in the season, but by the end of summer the meadows dry out and turn “California golden.” I made the photographer relatively early in the morning, when clouds were just beginning to build above Mammoth Peak and the Kuna Crest.
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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